Senate Bill No. 436
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifty-two, article three,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to wrongful
injuries to timber; criminal penalties; limiting an electric
power company's right to cut and remove timber on another's
land; and providing damages.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifty-two, article three, chapter sixty-one of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-52. Wrongful injuries to timber; criminal penalties.
(a) Any person who willfully and maliciously and with intent
to do harm unlawfully enters upon the lands of another, cuts down, injures, removes or destroys any timber valued at more than
one thousand dollars, without the permission of the owner or his
or her representative is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than three times the value of
timber injured, removed or destroyed or imprisoned in a regional
jail for thirty days, or both fined and imprisoned.
(b) Any person who willfully and maliciously and with intent
to do harm unlawfully enters upon the lands of another, cuts
down, injures, removes or destroys any timber valued at one
thousand dollars or less, without the permission of the owner or
his or her representative is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars or imprisoned in the county or regional jail for not more
than thirty days.
(c) The necessary trimming and removal of timber to permit the
construction, repair, maintenance, cleanup and operations of
pipelines and utility lines and appurtenances of public
utilities, public service corporations and to aid registered land
surveyors and professional engineers in the performance of their
professional services, and municipalities, and pipeline
companies, or lawful operators and product purchasers of natural
resources other than timber shall may not be deemed a willful and
intentional cutting down, injuring, removing or destroying of timber: Provided, That an electric utility company, or any
person acting on behalf of the company, may not cut or remove
timber on the land of another without first notifying the
landowner by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by
personal service. Any company or person acting on its behalf,
that fails to provide this notification is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined ten
thousand dollars. In addition, the landowner has a cause of
action against the company and the person acting on its behalf
for the value of the timber cut, for any damages to the land, and
for exemplary damages in an amountvalueamount equal to three times the valueamount
of the timber cut.
(d) The necessary trimming and removal of timber for boundary
line maintenance, for the construction, maintenance and repair of
streets, roads and highways or for the control and regulation of
traffic thereon by the state and its political subdivisions or
registered land surveyors and professional engineers shall may
not be deemed a willful and intentional cutting down, injuring,
removing or destroying of timber.
(e) No fine or imprisonment imposed pursuant to this section
shall may be construed to limit any cause of action by a
landowner for recovery of damages otherwise allowed by law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require power companies
to notify landowners before cutting or removing any timber.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.